Today's walk report: 121421

Rainy day, rain all day
Ain't no use in gettin' uptight, just let it groove its own way
Let it drain your worries away
Lay back and groove on a rainy day*

Okay. it's not true, this isn't really a walk report but to make it qualify just a wee bit I'll mention my last walk, briefly. Yesterday, Monday December 13th I went for my typical early morning walk and I wasn't especially enthusiastic about it. It was the crack of dawn and about 39º F. Despite my Nordic roots I find that to be pretty cold, especially just wearing Levi's, a t-shirt and a light hoodie. I bought a pair of $10 gloves on Amazon awhile back and as the saying goes, you get what you pay for. I prefer to put my fists into the sleeves of the hoodie and after about a mile my hands seem to warm up a bit. So, there was that.

The thing is, I felt I had to walk yesterday because walks were absent this past weekend and today, well today it was a lot warmer, same time as Monday's walk it was 54º but it was also pouring rain. In fact from about 10:40 last night until right now (near 10 AM) we got a charming 1.84" of rain. I'm really thankful for that but I'm not walking in it. Those days are gone forever. 

Young wildflower plants, which were being meticulously cared for over many days since our first rain on October 24th, were having to deal with some nonseasonal temps up into the mid-90ºs. They were looking a little sorry the past few days but I felt I should wait on the rain. They've perked up significantly this morning. I hope they can handle tomorrow morning's near freezing predicted temps. Up until today I had only seen .87" precipitation for the season. Average rainfall for this valley is 17". Last season the total was around 5.5". I water roughly 6,000 square feet by hand. Wildflower seeds to seedlings in 90º+ temps needed to be watered as many as 4 times a day. I do that with a sprayer on a hose, 3 of them actually. I don't mind the activity but I do mind using the water in a drought (read, guilt) and also having to pay for it. I'm gonna see the water bill for the last two months in a day or two. I'm hoping not to flip out. Last wildflower season I did nothing due to Covid. This year I felt like I deserved some flowers. Last year there was some self-seeding and I relied on that little bit of rain. This year I threw down 1/4 lb of Dimorphotheca sinuata seed (it's an African daisy) and... package said, 100,000 Pavaver rhoeas (common poppy, Shirley poppy) seeds. To top it off I get a lot of common storksbill, common mallow and in the backyard, chickweed. They're all invasive but not horrible looking plants.

Anyway, that's more than I was going to say about any of that. What I wanted to do was to post some more pictures of my two scrub jay (Aphelocoma californica) friends, Bowie and Mr. B. They visit me daily. In fact, I believe they both look for me and why not, they get food. I have conversations with them both now, they listen to me. Bowie talks back the most.

These were all taken between November 29th and December 12th, I think... close enough.

Bowie.

Mr. B and I'll point out that one reason I don't have nearly as many pictures of Mr. B as I do of Bowie is because she often chases him away, especially when the food offering includes acorns. All of the acorns get buried and it seems Bowie wants to be in charge of that process. As you'll see, he does manage to get some. Scrub jays have an amazing ability to remember where they hide their food caches. They also have a huge impact on the distribution of oak trees.

Rain has been coming and going during the production of this post, we're up to 1.95" for the current storm.

* Rainy Day, Dream Away
by Jimi Hendrix
Album: Electric Ladyland (1968)